Charges against Riza politically motivated, says Najib
Riza Aziz claimed trial to five counts of money laundering amounting to US$248 million.
PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak said the money laundering charges levelled at his stepson, Riza Aziz, were politically motivated, noting that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had dropped a forfeiture suit against the Hollywood film producer.
The former prime minister said the DoJ had filed a civil suit against Riza on five counts of money laundering, the same amount Riza was charged with today, on grounds that the funds came from 1MDB.
He said the forfeiture case was later dropped by the DoJ after Riza paid US$60 million to the department, the sum of which was returned to Putrajaya two months ago.
In 2016, the DoJ filed a civil asset forfeiture action against Red Granite, which produced the Oscar-nominated film “Wolf of Wall Street”, as part of broader efforts to recoup more than US$1 billion allegedly embezzled from the scandal-plagued investment arm.
Najib said the DoJ never charged Riza with criminal offences despite him being in the US and a majority of the transactions happened in the US and involved American banks.
“But the Pakatan Harapan government is not satisfied and has charged Riza because of political interest,” he wrote on Facebook.
Earlier today, Riza claimed trial at the Sessions Court to five counts of money laundering amounting to US$248 million (RM1.25 billion).
The son of Rosmah Mansor was said to have committed the offences in the US and Singapore between April 4, 2011 and Nov 14, 2012.
Najib defended Riza’s role as a film producer and said his movies were for the world market.
He said Riza did not get any projects from the Malaysian government.
“But it is up to the PH government to charge anyone they like for any reason. We can only hire a lawyer to fight the case in court and win,” he said.
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